Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a remote control method, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a remote control program, and particularly to an image forming apparatus remotely controlled by a remote operation device, a remote control method executed in the image forming apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a remote control program.
Description of the Related Art
Techniques for remotely operating MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals) with portable information devices such as smart phones are known. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-93940 discloses a remote operation system including an operated terminal and a portable terminal. The operated terminal includes a display screen controller that creates a portable terminal screen by modifying an operated terminal screen based on display attribute information of the portable terminal, an encoding unit that encodes the portable terminal screen by an encoding method received from the portable terminal, and an operation processing unit that executes a specified operation with positional information received from the portable terminal. The portable terminal includes a decoding unit that decodes the encoded portable terminal screen and outputs the decoded portable terminal screen to a touch screen, and a positional information correction unit that corrects positional information indicating a touch position on the portable terminal screen to positional information on the operated terminal screen, based on the display attribute information of the portable terminal itself and display attribute information of the operated terminal that is received from the operated terminal, in response to detection of a touch operation on the touch screen displaying the portable terminal screen.
However, a single portable information terminal alone can remotely operate an MFP. An MFP capable of being used by multiple people may be accessed by a plurality of portable information devices operated by multiple people. In this case, the MFP is remotely controlled by one of the portable information devices. In order to remotely control the MFP, the users who operate the other portable information devices have to operate their portable information devices after a while. Moreover, next time one of the users is about to remotely operate the MFP from his/her portable information device, another user may be remotely operating the MFP. In this case, the user cannot remotely operate the MFP for an indefinitely long time.